EPISODE #1 > Ever since we lost our immortality and became mortal, life has been a pain! Like it or not, survival is painful. It’s worth it! But painful.

I never know where my brain is going to go of the mornings. It may happen while still lying in bed, or during my prayer, coffee, and quiet time. But today…it was odd. the subject is not odd. Actually, I’m looking very forward to this. I think it’s very important. But how I got to this subject is a little odd. Here we go…

It was my dog. My beagle, named Sky. I’ve heard it said that pound for pound beagles are a lot of dog. I agree. And for some reason my brain got to thinking about how my dog, Sky, probably has no concept of death. She has a sense of danger, pain, fear; but does she know she can die? Does she know she will die? It seems to me she lives every day in the moment and has no idea those moments will end. I felt a pain of sadness for her. Or is she lucky not to know?

Then I had a flash vision of her lying in the road, hit by a car, in pain, alone, and not understanding what was about to happen. Just the idea of it broke my heart instantly and got me to thinking about all the pain in this world, ever since the fall in the garden and sin entered in. And so did death and suffering. Heaven is our promised escape through Christ.

Thank my Lord, Sky is still just fine, but because she traveled a quarter mile down the road, through cornfields, to my neighbor’s house and tried to catch her chickens, Sky now suffers a different kind of pain. She’s always on a leash.

I put a 150 foot runner up, but that is nothing for her. Beagles love to run and it is painful to me, knowing she wants to run, but I can’t let her. I really hate it, but it must be so. Even wherever we go, she’s on a leash because she will escape and possibly get hit by a car or lost.

This was the backdoor way I found myself pondering how much pain happens everyday on this planet to one and all, and we must live with it. It cannot be eliminated. But can we reduce it? Of course we can, and what are some of those pain reducing ways?

I’m not talking about taking an Advil. I’m not talking about a headache or arthritis, although all those things can be a pain. And I’m not talking about deadening our pain, or running from our pain by climbing into a bottle. I’m talking about real, healthy, and wise ways of reducing pain. Wisdom itself is a pain reducing element. The foolish always suffer more than the wise.

This subject will require a few episodes. I hope you will join me on exploring real ways of reducing pain on planet earth. We cannot avoid it. My mother came down with dementia. My life became about trying to reduce her pain, which of course increased mine. Part of reducing pain in the earth is by helping others get through their pain. It was so hard watching her fade, but at least she was not alone, or in a nursing home, until the very end.

It was comical too. She tried to fry bacon in a plastic plate on a gas burner stove! I was outside. I came running in to find the smoke alarms going off, kitchen filled with smoke, a terrible stink, and my mother sitting at the table and eating her half raw bacon from a plastic plate with a hole burnt in it, as if nothing was wrong. She was actually laughing! And said, “It’ll all clear in a minute. No big deal.”

She didn’t even realize the bacon was raw and the plate burnt through. She was only referring to the smoke, smell, and noise. I had to laugh. Both love and laughter are ways of reducing the pain. We will consider these and more under this title of “Reducing Life’s Pain”. Your comments are treasured.

We accept life with pain. We try to avoid as much as possible, but sometimes, many times, we enter into pain because it is the right thing to do. Even going to a job is painful for most of us. Few there be who actually make a living doing something they love. But work is the honorable thing to do. Providing for your family is the right thing to do, for the sake of love! But how many do the wrong thing and run from that pain? Especially men! Leaving the mother with all the workload of their survival on her own.

There are many things we can discuss on this subject, and hopefully reduce our pain a little just in the sharing. A lot of good happens on planet earth every day, and we do not belittle that. However, when we put on our Sunday smile and say everything’s alright, when it’s not, will not reduce our pain. We can be honest and optimistic, hopeful, and positive at the same time. I hope to practice that good medicine here. More coming soon!